Cigar Bar (19 page)

She wondered what Jenny was doing back at the house and how many times she tried to call her brother. She wondered if her brother had found her phone in his bag. Her mind was racing, and then she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her stomach. It was so sharp that she immediately bent over and screamed.

The people around her jumped. Most of the passengers had been asleep, except for Sherry and Monica, who had been talking the entire time. Some people cursed and others showed concern for the young, pregnant girl.

“Shut the fuck up! I’m trying to get some sleep!” said one white guy in the back. He was scolded for his outburst as the flight attendant ran to aid her.

Sherry held her stomach, her face contorted in pain. While she screamed, Monica noticed that something was seriously wrong. “Oh, shit! Sherry, you’re bleeding!”

Sherry yelled, “My baby!”

A woman from the front section ran back to Sherry. “I’m a nurse. Can I help?”

“She’s fuckin’ bleeding!” Monica screamed. “Do something!”

The nurse jumped into action. She lay Sherry down in the middle aisle and checked her. Then she turned to the flight attendant. “We have to land this plane. This young woman needs a hospital.”

The flight attendant hustled to the front of the plane to inform the captain. The captain’s voice came over the loud speaker. “Good afternoon, folks; this is your captain speaking. It appears that we have an emergency. Unfortunately, we have to make an unscheduled stop, so we ask for your patience.”

A young, black soldier who was a medical doctor ran up and checked Sherry. “Hi, I’m a doctor,” he said, flashing his credentials. The flight attendants, Monica, and the nurse froze briefly because he was a very handsome, chocolate-brown doctor.

The nurse who had been in first-class pointed to her coworker. “See, that’s him.”

He smiled. This sort of thing happened everywhere he went, so he was used to the attention from the ladies. He was flattered, but he knew that he wasn’t there for that. He examined the young girl, who was about seven years younger than he. Being in the military had fast-tracked his career.

He picked Sherry up and carried her to first-class. “I’m gonna need this area clear, please,” he said to the flight attendants. They began to shuffle the people out of the area, but, of course, there was one stubborn, old white woman.

“Excuse me! I didn’t pay for first-class tickets to ride in the coach section! This is preposterous! I will
not
move!” she said, sipping her champagne.

The doctor gently lifted the lady. “Ma’am, please, let’s go.”

“For heaven’s sake, put me down, young man!” she protested.

As politely as possible, the young officer replied, “I’m sorry, ma’am, but I have a medical emergency, and I’m about to do something I don’t think you wanna see. You’ll be better off out here.” He carried her and placed her in the stewardess chair.

The old lady could only smile. “Okay, just keep my glass filled. Would that be too much to ask?”

“No, ma’am, it would not.” He turned and hustled back in to Sherry only to find Monica standing in a fighting position.

“I’m not going no fuckin’ where! That’s
my
girl right there!” She bent down and held Sherry’s hand tightly. “Don’t worry, girl, I’m right here for you.”

Sherry, now barely awake, squeezed Monica’s hand. “I need you to call my brother.” With that said, she passed out.

“Sherry, Sherry! Doc, Doc, do something!”

The young man went into action. He pulled a pair of scissors out of nowhere. “Nurse,” he said, “I need as many blankets as possible.” The flight attendant had gone to fetch them before he could finish his request.

Monica and the nurse built a human tent around Sherry as the doctor cut off her pants. As soon as he did, he could see that the baby’s tiny arm was at the birth canal, as if to say, “Help me!”

They gasped when they saw the little arm and the blood. The nurse turned to the doctor and said, “She has no pulse.”

He switched positions. He had to get the baby out or it could drown. He also wanted to save the young girl. “Nurse, start CPR. I have to get this baby out of there!” The nurse jumped into action.

Monica said, “I can help! I learned CPR.” The nurse gave Sherry mouth-to-mouth while Monica pushed on her chest. Monica spoke into Sherry’s ear. “Listen, girl, we didn’t come way the fuck down here so you can die! Girl, wake your ass up!” She continued compressions on Sherry’s chest.

Doc was moving fast but carefully. He pulled out a scalpel, sliced open Sherry’s abdomen horizontally, and put his hands inside to deliver the baby.

Suddenly, the airplane dropped, shook violently, and moved everyone erratically. The doctor quickly removed his hands and covered Sherry. Another drop and people began to scream. The nurse and Monica tried their best to keep giving her chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth, but the plane was tossing them around.

As they got back into position, the plane took another hard jolt, but this time, all the air masks dropped from above the passengers. People screamed hysterically.

“This can’t be it!” Monica said.
Am I going to die? Why am I even trying to save her if we’re all gonna die?
Monica was scared but refused to allow her thoughts of death to stop her from trying to save Sherry no matter what.

There was an abrupt nosedive, loud plane noises, passenger hysteria, and sudden darkness as the airplane dove straight down.

Flaco

“I can’t believe this motherfucker would do this shit to me!” Flaco was pissed.

Tony had fired him and he wasn’t going out like a bitch. He sat at his kitchen table, smoking a blunt and cleaning his guns. He wasn’t going to kill him, but he figured he’d hire a couple of young boys to help him rob the place on the big evening.

The first thing he would do was let the feds know about Tony’s secret room and the videos of the judge. Tony didn’t know that he knew about the room, but he did. He had snuck in and made a key, he knew everything that was going down.

He had reached out to the young boys who had shot up his house and was able to persuade them to help him rob the club after the show. He promised them there would be close to $4.5 million in there that night. Since none of them had ever imagined that much money, dreams of big cars and boats had them agreeing quickly.

But first he made a call. On the phone with him was Agent Jacobson from the FBI. He told them they needed to meet and that he had a video they might want to see of the judge. He also told them that Tony was Judge Matthews’ partner.

The FBI was knocking on his door in under 20 minutes. He ran to the door, hustled them in, and peeked outside. He saw no one.

“Okay, what have you got for us?”

“I have proof that the owner of this night spot where I worked is helping the judge launder money and also take bribes.”

“Okay, let’s see the tape.”

“Well, I don’t have a tape. I figured if I tell you and give you my key, you guys could just go in there and get the tape yourselves,” Flaco stated.

“Sorry, it doesn’t work like that. We can’t just go in there because you tell us this. We need proof. You have to go in there and get the video for us, and then we can talk. Until then, we’re wasting time.”

“I can’t go because I got fired,” he replied.

“Well,” Jacobson says, pulling out his card, “when you get something, just give us a call.”

Sitting up the block, as usual, was Sasha. She called Ghetto and Spaz. “Yo, I just seen two feds leave Puerto Rico’s house.”

“What do you think?” Ghetto asked.

“I don’t know if this motherfucker got the fuckin’ feds watching him. I think we should stay as far the fuck away as possible!” replied Spazo.

“I agree,” said Ghetto. “But what about setting up shop?”

“I got Boon and his boys out scouting.”

“Okay, dig. Change of plan,” Spazo said. He got up and paced back and forth. “I think we should call up that Y fucker and let him know about his boy down here, but we won’t tell him about the feds. If we play this shit right, we can put those motherfuckers on Mr. Y’s ass and eliminate all his shit.” Just as he finished with Sasha, his phone rang again. “Hello?”

“Hey, Spazo, what up?”

“Dawn, is that man with you?”

“Yeah, he right here,” Dawn said, handing the phone to Mr. Y.

“How can I help you, sir?”

“Yeah, we found your boy. You wanna know something else? Your favorite nephew, Flaco, is his partner! So all the time you were supplying him guns, he knew about you. The man you were looking for, in fact, he helped him hide. How do you wanna handle this?”

Mr. Y. hopped out of his seat and started shouting in Ukrainian. Spazo smiled because he knew he had him.

“Spazo, give me details! I want to handle this one personally.” When they hung up the phone, Mr. Y looked at Dawn, gave her a big hug, and said, “It’s been a pleasure having you here, my love.” He called for one of his men. “Take her wherever she wants to go. Where do you want to go?” Mr. Y asked.

“I wanna go home,” Dawn said. “I wanna see my mother.”

“Then I will take you home,” Mr. Y said. “And from our long conversations, I understand that you want to go home to Georgia. Well, that is where we will send you.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out $1000 and handed it to her. “I’m sure you can get a plane ticket with this, right?”

Then he ordered his man to take her to the airport. Dawn embraced Mr. Y like he was family. He smiled as he hugged her back. “Okay, okay,” he said as the hug lingered on. He pulled her away. “Now, listen to me. If you ever need me, I’m only a phone call away.” Dawn nodded, then left, getting into a waiting sedan.

Mr. Y said, “Book us a flight and a few hotel suites. We are gonna take a trip.”

His man jumped to the task at hand.

“Seems we have a traitor in our own fucking backyard!” Mr. Y said, sitting at the table. He took a steak knife and stabbed it clean through the table. In Ukrainian he said, “I want to handle this one myself.”

CHAPTER 14

• • •

Tony, who was back in
his house, didn’t have a clue of the chaos that was heading his way. It seemed like a regular day, and when he got up in the morning, he thought of a better way to make his business grow.

His doorbell rang and he looked down at his watch, which read 7:30 a.m. He thought,
Who the fuck is ringing the doorbell this early in the morning?
He was furious that his house staff wasn’t due to arrive until one in the afternoon.

Scowling, he walked down the stairs to the side entrance. Tony opened the door only to have the judge’s men push into him and then throw him against the wall. The noise was so loud that it woke Becky. As the bodyguards lifted Tony up off of his feet, they heard Becky’s voice. “Tony?”

The judge walked in with a giant cigar in his mouth. “Tony, Tony…you’ve been a bad boy.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Tony asked, anger in his voice.

A friend of mine that works for the feds came by early this morning. Do you wanna know what he showed me?”

“Tony?” Becky questioned from the top of the steps.

“It’s okay, Becky, the judge and I are talking.”

“Well, what the fuck was that loud-ass bang?” Becky asked.

“Becky, go back to the room! I’ll be up in minute.” Tony demanded.

The judge pulled out an envelope and handed it to Tony. He grabbed the manila envelope from the judge’s hands. Inside were pictures that showed the judge walking out of Tony’s place with the senator and the prosecutor.

“So, what does this have to do with me?” Tony inquired. “You think I want feds messing around in my business? I don’t think so. Trust me, Judge, I have way more to lose than you think.”

The men put him down as the judge walked up. “Well, check this shit out, Tony. If I find out you had anything to do with this shit, well, you don’t have to worry about anybody else because I’m gonna take you out myself. “ He blew a big smoke cloud right in Tony’s face.

Tony realized at this point if the feds were watching them, it was time to get the fuck out of town, because, even if they weren’t watching
him
, they were too close.

“Now, when they gave me these pictures, they hinted to me that they have a man on the inside. Me being the man that I am, I started eliminating suspects, then I came to you. I’m sure you don’t want any of your past indiscretions brought into play. This place you own here may have to change hands, and a new owner may be imminent.” He got in Tony’s face and said to him, “If I find out that you’re the motherfucker that’s trying to stop me from eating, I’m not only gonna take your club, but somehow, someway, I’ll drop cases on your fucking
wop-
ass family back in New York. Trust me: I have the power to make shit happen!” Then he handed the pictures to Tony. “Keep these. I have copies.” He walked out.

Tony leaned against the wall, and Becky ran down the stairs. “What the fuck was that about?”

Tony grabbed her arm and said, “Come here.”

He took her to the video room and showed her the tape of the judge.

“Oh shit, what are we gonna do?” she asked.

“Well, I think it’s time we close up the show and hit the road.”

“You wanna leave all this behind?” Becky asked Tony.

“I don’t have a choice! Shit is starting to fall apart. Flaco is stealing and using dope!”

Becky gasped. “Oh God, no! Really?”

“Yeah, I had to fire him, but I haven’t heard from him in a week. I hope he went back home. Not only that, but I could have sworn I seen a black chick on our balcony last night! Now this motherfucker wants to take us down! Fuck this shit! After this concert in two weeks, we’re gonna leave this place.” He grabbed the video.

Tony had a friend in the ATF he had met during an undercover sting back in Queens. He called him up and filled him in on what was going on with the judge.

“I’ll take a flight out tonight,” he said, “I’ll get a room and I’ll call you to come meet with me. And Tony? Thanks, man; this case could give me my stripes.”

“But wait,” Tony said, “don’t you wanna inform the FBI? Wouldn’t this be a case for them?”

“Fuck no! I want this. You have video. Why would I wanna give this to those G-Men? I’m gonna do this one myself. I’ll call my crew up, and we’ll talk about it. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Okay, you got it.” Tony said before hanging up..

He looked at Becky. “Well, we got two weeks. I’m gonna meet up with Bernie tomorrow, but until then, we have to stack as much as possible. How much are we working with now?”

“Well, I did a deposit yesterday, and that gave us about one-point-five million. If we wait ’til after the party, we should clear around one and a half mil, which should put us at around three, and with the bar, another twenty-five maybe.”

“Good, good. Okay, listen…I have to take a run to pick up some supplies later. I’m about to make some breakfast. Do you want something?”

“Whatever you make,” she said, leaning in to give him a big kiss. “I’m gonna take a shower. You sure you don’t wanna go for breakfast and take a shower with me?” She opened her robe and put her ripe, young body on display.

“How ’bout we do both?” he suggested, leaning in to suck on her firm breast. “But you have to make breakfast.”

With a smirk, she said, “Deal.” He pressed his face deeper into her chest. Then, like two young kids, they ran upstairs, stripped down, and jumped into the shower.

Peeking through the door, watching Tony and Becky run upstairs, was Flaco. Luck was on his side and he snuck in. He listened as he heard them get into their lovemaking. He knew no one else was around, so he snuck into the secret room in the Cigar Bar and made a copy of the videos. Just as he’d finished and placed the video in his pocket, he heard a cough.

He ducked behind the wall and peeked through the door and saw it was one of the barmaids. He straightened up and walked out, startling the girl.

“Oh shit, Flaco, what you doin’ here this early? I thought you didn’t work here anymore.”

“No, who told you that?” he asked, rushing out the door. “I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later.”

The girl brushed it off and went back to what she was doing. She had left her books there and was coming back to get them. Tony had no clue what just went down because he was too busy inside of Becky.

Flaco pulled into a restaurant and took a seat near the back. The feds pulled up at the same time, and Sasha knew it wasn’t a coincidence. She couldn’t see what was being said, but she saw Flaco hand them something and she informed Spazo.

Inside the Diner

“Listen, Danny, we’re gonna need you to testify in court because when our bosses ask us how we magically got this tape, we can’t tell them it just appeared out of thin air.”

“No, I can’t do that. You told me you needed proof, and I got you proof. Now, the rest is up to you two.”

“That’s not how it works,” the agent said to him. “You can agree to come down when we call you, or we can take you now and hold you until you’re needed to testify. It’s your choice.”

“Damn,” Flaco said, “fuck it. I’ll be there. Damn, you don’t give a motherfucker no choice, do you?”

“We’ll be in touch,” the agent responded as they exited with the video.

Fuck!
Flaco thought.
I just won’t go and I’ll let the young boys rob the place. I’ll just get the fuck out of here.
Then he thought about pretty-ass Monica and gave her a call on his way home.

“Hey, Monica. What up, baby girl?”

“Nothin’, just chillin’. What about you?” she replied.

“Check this out. We got interrupted the other day when the young boys shot up my damn house, and you and I never got a chance to finish.”

“Yeah, I thought about that too. So, what you want to do about that?” she asked.

“Well, check this out… How ‘bout I take you with me to Jamaica instead? Would that make me worthy? We could leave tonight, pretty girl. And don’t worry about clothes; I’ll get you whatever you need.”

“But what about the concert? I bought this sexy-ass dress, and I was gonna invite you back to my place to show you my appreciation.”

“Well, you can show me your appreciation on the sunny beaches of Jamaica.”

“Sounds good to me,” she said, and they hung up.

When Flaco got to his house, he ran in, packed a giant bag, and threw it in his trunk.

Sasha dialed Spazo. “Ay yo, Spaz, this cat appears to be fleeing town. How you wanna handle it?”

“Fuck it,” Spazo said, “we don’t need this motherfucker anymore. Put him on permanent rest.”

“Okay, but before I do, can I, you know, do it
my
way?” asked Sasha.

“You wanna do some nasty, bloody shit?! Well, no. Fuck that! Pop that nigga in the head and let’s bounce. Shit, we got bigger fish to fry.”

“Damn! Okay,” Sasha said, disappointment in her voice.

They decided to pack up and switch locations anyway. The rest of the team had gotten into town, and their only mission was to take out Mr. Y and Tony for all the nonsense they had put his little sister through,

While Spazo and Ghetto were packing their bags, they heard a knock at the door. The crew came in and took their bags as they headed out.

Just about 15 minutes from where they were, Sasha saw Flaco run into a store, so she took advantage of the opportunity. As he walked out with his pack of cigarettes, Sasha got out her car, pretended to drop her keys, and bent over.

“Damn,” was all Flaco could say when he saw her. “What’s up, pretty lady?” he asked as he approached her.

“Hello. Can I help you?” she asked.

“Yeah; you can give me your number.”

“And what are you gonna do with it?” she asked seductively.

“What you think? Give you a call so we can do some things.”

“Is this your car?” she asked.

“Yea, why?”

“Well, I
do
have a man, and I wouldn’t want any of his people to see me out here talking to you.”

“No problem. Get in,” he said. “How ’bout we go for a quick drive?”

After they drove off, Sasha said, “I have a confession.”

“Oh yeah? What’s that?” Flaco asked, smiling.

When he stopped at a light, Sasha leaned in and kissed his neck. Before he even realized what was happening, he felt a wetness on his shirt. He tried to ask her what happened, but he couldn’t talk; all he could do was gag.

Sasha slid him over and drove and parked the car to the back of a crowded mall. She stood there until the crew came, and they dropped her back off at her car and took care of the recently departed Flaco. Nobody would ever know.

Hotel Drama

The Hyatt Regency Bellevue was where Don Veto, Paulie, and Sal checked in. Don Veto had the presidential suite. The next customer came in and was enraged that he couldn’t get the best room in the hotel.

“Do you know who I am?” the man questioned in his heavy Ukrainian accent.

“Sir, I’m sorry, but whoever you are is not gonna change the fact that the presidential suite is already booked. But what I
can
do for you is give you the honeymoon suite.”

Mr. Y looked at the man behind the counter and threw his hands in the air. “Did you say the
honeymoon suite
? You have to be fuckin’ kidding me! Do I look like I’m about to fuck a woman?” he asked angrily, gesturing toward his men, who were standing at attention.

“I’m so sorry, sir, but there is nothing I can do. If you’d like, I can call around to another hotel to see if they can accommodate you.”

At that moment, Don Veto and Paulie walked out of the elevator behind him. When they were walking toward Mr. Y, he dropped his head on the counter, and his face was hidden. Don Veto wasn’t paying attention and walked right by. He paused at the door to spark up his cigar.

When the car pulled up, Paulie’s phone rang. “Hello?” It was Sherry’s sponsor, who informed him that Sherry had been gone for almost a week.

He stood outside the car, yelling at the poor woman until Don Veto screamed at him. “Hey, get your fuckin’ ass in the car!” They left the hotel.

As the car pulled off, Mr. Y looked in that direction but missed whoever it was. All he saw out the corner of his eye was a car door close and a Lincoln pull off.

“Okay, give me the fuckin’ room!” he said to the front-desk clerk. “I can’t believe this shit!” Then he looked at his man who stood behind him, waiting. “I thought I told
you
to book me the room, you stupid shit! Now you can go sit in the fuckin’ car! That will be
your room
while we are here!”

The soldier obediently saluted Mr. Y, turned, and went to the car. The clerk witnessed this exchange, and a tinge of fear immediately came over him. His hands shook as he handed over the room key. He stuttered and said, “Ro-oo-oom three-two-six, sir. Go just down that hall, and take the elevator on your right.”

Mr. Y laughed as his men hauled his bag, and he headed to the elevators. Just as the elevator door closed, Sal’s door was opening. Sal was headed to the bar; that is, until he saw
her
sitting at the table. He pumped his brakes extra hard and said to the lady, “Well, well.”

The young woman was beautiful. The first person that he thought of when he looked at her was Christina Applegate in her Kelly Bundy days.
Damn,
Sal thought to himself
, what an incredible body!

“Well, well yourself,” she said. “Hi, I’m Linda.” She extended her hand and asked, “And you are?”

“I’m Sal. Let’s get right to the point, Linda. How much do you want and are you ready?”

She laughed. “Damn, I see you don’t waste time, do you, Sal? How about we sit here and have a drink first, then we can go back to your room? I don’t want people to—”

He cut her off midsentence. “Hey, fuck what people think! They could kiss my fuckin’ ass! Come on!” he said, pulling her chair out. “We can have drinks in my room.”

She liked that he took over and made her do what he wanted. Any other time, the stiff convention men came down, but they were so afraid of approaching her. Sal was forceful and it turned her on. She felt a twinge between her legs after he tossed a 20 on the bar and pulled the back of her arm.